The Path to Blessing
By Hugh White
The worldwide pandemic is a game changer, it has changed everything. For how long and how permanently no doctor, pundit, or politician really knows for sure.
During this time of great uncertainty, the Holy Spirit has me thinking about two different passages. The first is in James 1 where James reminds us that God is the author of good (verse 17), He is never the author of the evil and bad stuff that exists in the world. That’s on us and our old nature all the way back to Adam and Eve. We can never blame things like a worldwide pandemic on Him, which we can tend to do when we ask questions like, “Oh God, why are you allowing this to happen?”
Later in James 1:22-25 we are challenged to be “doers of the word”, rather than just a “hearer of the word”. The word “doer” is the Greek word poietes which means a maker, a producer, an author. We get our word poet from this Greek word. It’s in times like these that God allows us, expects us, to be creators or artists in the creation of “good” in the world. God is giving Grace City Church an opportunity to be artists and poets creating good for others within our sphere of influence. Will we rise to the challenge, join together, and care for each other and our neighbors around us who are or soon may be in dire need?
Though not a complete definition of love, one of my favorite definitions of love is meeting needs in other people that they can’t meet for themselves. In the 21 days of prayer challenge just announced by our pastors, here’s one way we can pray—we can ask our Heavenly Father to open our eyes to see unmet needs around us, needs that may be within our power individually or collectively to meet. But then we must “do”, we must become creative artists and poets in setting out to meet that need thereby expressing the love of God to others we can reach. Scripture tells us that more than anything else, people are drawn to Jesus when they are caught up in or are witnesses to the “creation of good” through acts of Christian love.
James 1:25 tells us if we actually become an “effectual doer”, God has a unique reward ready to share with us—He rewards us with divine blessing in the accomplishment of the good. In other words, doing good is God’s pathway to blessing! We experience great joy and happiness in the accomplishment of creating an individual or collective masterpiece of good.
The second scripture that the Holy Spirit has swirling around in my mind is Romans 8:28. This verse tells us that God causes all things (including the bad stuff like Covid-19) to work together for good to those who love God and who have been called by Him into His family of Jesus followers.
As I’ve pondered this verse, I feel like the Holy Spirit has been telling me to look around and be mindful of all the ways that God is working things together for our good even in this time of uncertainty and potential loss. Here’s one example, this pandemic reminds us once again that we are ever dependent on God to meet all our needs and the needs of others that we love and want to help. If we pause and look hard enough and deep enough, we can see God at work doing good for us and others. As we pray together over the next three weeks, let’s ask God to allow us to see Him doing good in our lives, others’ lives, and the world around us; then praise Him for the loving and “doer of good” God that He is.
I’m not completely sure if this link is active, it may have timed out. But if you can watch the link to this comedy program by Michael Jr, it will bless you beyond measure and amplify a hundred times better than I can what God has been trying to say to me. Watch this amazing Christian comic teach us all how to become artists and poets. To receive the full impact, you need to watch the entire program. I pray the link remains live for an extended period of time.
https://m.facebook.com/watch/?v=524636828482423&_rdr